Novak Djokovic returned to competition for the first time since his deportation from Australia last month. He played at a high level as he defeated the wildcard Lorenzo Musetti 6-3, 6-3 and reached the second round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Monday.
Eight weeks into the new tennis season, Djokovic’s victory marked his first match of the year and he was content with how he navigated the situation.
“All in all, it’s a straight-sets win so of course I have to be satisfied with my tennis,” Djokovic said. “Especially after not playing for almost three months. Of course there were moments when I played great, there were moments when I made a couple of unforced errors in a row, uncharacteristically, but it’s normal.”
With the next tournaments on Djokovic’s calendar uncertain because he is unvaccinated, the crowd in Dubai made the most of the first sighting of the world No 1.
Djokovic, who has won this title five times, entered the court to a loud ovation from an audience awash with Serbian flags, frequent chants of “Nole, Nole” and one spectator even carrying a flag with the hashtag “#WeStandWithNovakDjokovic” written across it.
Although he continued to undertake daily fitness sessions upon his return from Australia, Djokovic did not train for 10 days as he dealt with his emotions from the events in Melbourne, only picking up a racket two and a half weeks ago.
Despite some rustiness, Djokovic played a solid match, dictating his young Italian opponent from inside the baseline, serving well in the few tense moments and flipping spectacularly from defence to attack a number of times as a reminder of his supreme talent.
This week marks one of the most significant moments of the year for Djokovic. After being unable to defend his Australian Open title, his No 1 ranking is seriously threatened by Daniil Medvedev. Should Medvedev, who is playing the Mexican Open in Acapulco, either equal or outperform Djokovic’s result this week the Russian will overtake him on Monday.
For now, Djokovic was far more concerned with the simple sensation of victory. After his win, he saluted his audience, even addressing them in Serbian. “I couldn’t ask for a better reception ... it’s been a while since I played the last match so I couldn’t pick a better place to kick-start the season.”
In the match before Djokovic’s, Andy Murray defeated the qualifier Christopher O’Connell 6-7(4), 6-3, 7-5 in a gruelling 2hr 51min contest to reach the second round in Dubai. It was an essential win after Murray endured one of the most one-sided defeats of his career last week in Doha, 6-0, 6-1 against Roberto Bautista Agut. Now firmly back inside the top 100, he will play for his 700th career win in the second round.
Afterwards, Murray said he had not seen Djokovic yet in Dubai but they had spoken during his time in Australia. “We shared a few messages whilst he was in Australia,” he said.
“Like I said at the time, I don’t agree with his decision. I think it would be a lot easier for him obviously if he was to get vaccinated. But I also didn’t like seeing him in the situation that he was in Australia as someone that I respect, have known since I was a child. I didn’t like seeing that.”
Meanwhile, Cameron Norrie crossed 3,000 ranking points for the first time and returned to his career‑high ranking of No 12 after the British No 1 won his third career ATP title in Delray Beach late on Sunday night.
